Automatic machine for continuous treatment of hides and leather



April 16, 1963 A. BUz/EK 3,085,421

AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF HIDES AND LEATHER Filed Dec. 7. .1960 l 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 28 INVENTol/Lj A 5106/ uce/C April 1s, 1963 3,085,421

A. BUCEK AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF HIDES AND LEATHER 'Filed Dec. 7, 1960 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 2, 6 1 Ada/y aek United States Patent O 3,085,421 AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF HIDES AND LEATHER Adolf Buek, trokovce, Czechoslovakia, assignor to Strojosvit, narodni podnik, Krnov, Czechoslovakia Filed Dec. 7, 196i), Ser. No. 74,391 Claims priority, application Czechoslovakia Jan. 25, 1960 4 Claims. (Cl. 69-42) The present invention relates to an automatic machine for continuous treatment of hides and leather, and deals more particularly with an automatic machine for flatting hides lor leather in a batch operation or continuously. The leather is inserted into the machine at one side or is automatically supplied from the preceding operation. After having been treated over its entire surface, it leaves the machine at the lother side, or advances automatically to the next operation.

Flatting is one of the basic oper-ations in the treatment of heavy sole leather, its purpose being to smooth and level all wrinkles and the grain in the leather, to increase its surface area and, at the same time, to improve its extensibility.

Three basic types of machines have heretofore -been used in tanneries for this purpose, namely machines of the table, roller and drum type. Machines of the tab-le type are adapted to treat leather in strips having a width of about 200 to 300 mm., whereas on machines of the roller and drum type the leather is treated in two stages. On these machines, the leather is fir-st placed into the open machine, whereupon the machine is closed either by a foot-operated lever or a hand-operated bar and one half of lthe leather piece is treated. The machine is then opened, the leather is tuined manually 180, and reinserted into the machine. The machine is again closed, whereupon the other half of the leather is worked and the treated leather is finally withdrawn.

The aforo-described treatment of leather requires the machine to be twice opened and twice Closed in each cycle. In addition, every piece of leather has to be turned -hy hand. The p-roductivity of the known machines is therefore very low.

A further disadvantage of the conventional machines which require frequent `opening and closing is the considerable wear of ycomponent parts within a relatively short time and particularly of the closing and opening mechanisms.

The opening and closing of the machine calls for the full attention on the part of the operator because of the danger of la serious accident. A further drawback of such machines is the considerable physical effort involved in handling the relatively heavy pieces of leather.

The present invention aims at overcoming the disadvantages of conventional machines of the type described.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein FIGURE 1 shows in side elevati-on the p-rincipal working elements of a leather or hide treating machine in inoperative position,

FIGURE 2 shows the same working elements as FIG. l, but in operative position,

FIGURE 3 shows diagrammatically the electro-hydraulic controls of the machine of FIGS. 1 and 2,

FIGURE 4 s'ws a `retail of the apparatus of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale, and

FIGURE 5 shows the corresponding detail of FIG. 2.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 there are shown a front supporting roller 2, a front kni-fe roller 3, a front pair of feed rollers 4, 4', a rear pair of feed rollers 5, 5',

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a rear supporting roller l6 and ya rear knife roller 7. The rollers are mounted in Ia non-illustrated machine frame. Placed in front of the rollers 2 and 3 is a feed conveyor 9 and behind the roller 7 a discharge conveyor 10. To ensure a smooth passage of the treated piece of leather l1 through the machine, guides 8 are provided between the feed conveyor 9 and the front supporting roller 2, between :the front supporting roller 2 and the front pair of feed rollers 4, 4', between the two pairs of feed rollers 4, 4 and 5, 5', between the rear pair of feed rollers 5, 5' and the rear supporting roller 6, and 'between the discharge supporting roller 6 and the rear conveyor 10. The guides 8 participate in the vertical movements of the corresponding supporting rollers 2 and 6 to which the guides are connected 'by respective brackets 26, 26' and arms 27, 27 as best seen in FIGS. 4, 5. The vertical movements of the rollers 2 and 6 are .activated by means of an electro-hydraulic control system shown in FIG. 3. The guides -lead the leather to :and Ifrom the surfaces of 4the several rollers. The brackets 26, 26' are pivotally mounted on pins 28, 28 which are xed elements of the machine frame, not otherwise shown, and are pivo-tally connected by the arms 27, 27 to the nonillustrated bearings of the supporting rollers 2, 6 in such a manner that the piece of leather is guided in a path which leads between a knife roller 3, 7 and a corresponding supporting roller 2, 6, and over the surface of the latter in its operative as well as in its inoperative posi-tion.

The electro-hydraulic system shown in FIG. 3 automatically controls the vertical movement of the supporting rollers 2 `and 6 -and of the guides 8 which are coupled therewith. The system compri-ses a container 11 filled with pressure liquid 12. Mounted on the non-illustrated cover yof the container I1 is a double gear pump 13 which is driven by lan electric motor 14. The aforementioned non-illustrated cover of the container 11 further carries two adjustable relief valves 15, 15' and two shut-off valves 16, 16. The latter valves are operated by two electro-magnetic activators 17, 17 by means of respective bell crank levers 18, 18', racks 19, I19 and pinions 20, 20. Each half of the double gear pump 13 is provided with a separate intake pipe 21, 21 and discharge pipe 22, 22. VThe discharge pipes 22, 22 are respectively -connected to hydraulic jacks 23, 23 for raisin-g the front supporting roller 2 and rear supporting roller 6. The A relief valves 15, 1S and the shut-olf valves 16, 16 are equipped with respective return pipes 24, 24' and 29, 29. Pressure gauges 25, 25 indicate the iluid pressure in the jacks 23, 23.

The machine illustrated operates as follows:

When the machine is started by pressing a non-illustrated push-button the mechanical parts are set in operation and the electric circuit (not shown) of the hydraulic system represented diagr-ammatically in FIG. 3 is switched on at the same time. The leather piece 1 to be treated is placed on the feed conveyor 9 or is automatically supplied fr-om a preceding operation. The conveyor feeds the leather into the machine over the face of the first guide 8 while both supporting rollers i.e. the front roller 2 and the rear roller 6 rotate. The leather 1 travels in ythe direction of the arrow S (FIG. l). It passes the front supporting roller 2 and the second guide 8. As soon as its leading edge is gripped by the front pair of rotating feed rollers 4, 4 the electro-magnetic devices 17, 17 (FIG. 3) are actuated so that the leather is pressed by the supporting rollers 2, 6 against the rotating knife rollers 3 and 7 (FIG. 2). The piece of leather is first pressed .against :the front roller 3, and then lalso against the rear roller 7. The knife rollers 3 and 7 treat the entire surface of the -piece of leather 1 while the piece of leather passes between both pairs of feed rollers i.e.

the front roller 4, 4 and the rear rollers 5, 5. As soon as the rear edge of the leather piece 1 leaves the pair of feed rollers 4, 4', both supporting rollers i.e. the front roller 2 and therearvroller 6 are lowered together with the corresponding guides 8 and the treated leather piece 1 is thus released from clamping engagement. It then travels over the rear supporting roller 6 to the discharge conveyor 10 (FIG. 2), whence the leather is taken off or dropped under its own Weight or is passed to a subsequent operation. After the next piece of leather is placed on the feed convey-or 9, the described process is repeated.

The hydraulic control system operates as follows:

When the electric circuit i-s switched on, the double gear pump 13 operates continuously. lIf the shut-off valves 116 are open, the pressure liquid iiows through the return pipes 24, 24 into the container 11. As soon as the leading edge of the treated leather 1 is gripped by the front pair of feed rollers 4, 4' the electro-magnetic actuators 17, 17' receive a signal and close the shut-off valves 16, `16 by means `of bell crank levers 18, 18', racks 19, 19 and pinions 20, 2G. The pressure liquid 12 flows then to the cylinders of the jacks 23, 23', which lift the supporting rollers 2 and 6 and thus press the leather piece 1 first against the front knife roller 3 only and then also against the rear knife rol-ler 7. The relief valve .'15, 15 are adjusted to open when the pressure gauges 2,5, 25' indicate the required working pressure, and to release the excessive pressure liquid 12 into the container 11. As soon as the rear edge of the treated leather piece 1 leaves the front pair of feed roller 4, `4' the electro-magnetic actuators 17, 17' receive again a `signal and open the shutoff valves 16, `16 by means of the bell crank levers 18, 1S', racks 19, 19 and pinions 20, 2W. The pressure in the jacks 23, 23' is thereby released, the rollers 2 and 6 drop to their initial ylower position and the machine is ready for the insertion of the next piece of leather. The lifting or lowering movement -of the supporting-rollers 2 and 6 and of the corresponding guides 8 can be effected either simultaneously or, if required, with a delay by adjustrnent of a not-illustrated time relay.

The machine according to the invention treats leather vor hides by flatting, substantially without physical effort on the part of the operator. The machine components vhave ya long, useful life, productivity is high, .and the 4 quality of the treated leather and hides is considerably improved. I claim:

l. In a hide and leather treating machine, in combination,

(a) a frame;

(b) knife roller means and supporting roller -means rotatable on said `frame;

(c) yguide means pivota-lly mounted on said frame and having a guide face portion, said knife roller means, said supporting roller means, -and said guide means dening a path for a piece of leather to be treated, said path extending over said face portion and between said knife roller means and Isaid supporting roller means;

(d) means for moving said supporting roller means transversely of said path between an inoperative position remote from said knife roller means, and an operative position in which said supporting roller means is adjacent said knife roller means for working of a piece. of leather supported on said supporting roller means by said knife roller means; land (e) motion :transmitting means connected to said guide means and to said supporting roller means for pivotal-ly moving said guide means on said frame when said supporting roller means moves Ibetween said positions thereof.

2. In a machine as set forth in claim l, said guide means including bracket means pivoted on said frame and `carrying said `face portion, and said motion transmitting means including .an arm hingedly secured to said holder.

3. In a machine as set forth in claim 2, said arm having two portions, one of said portions being hingedly secured to said bracket means, and the other portion being secured to said supporting roller means.

4. In a machine as set forth in claim l, means for continuo-usly moving a pie-ce of lleather in said path.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 467,216 Whitney Jan. 19, 1892 1,621,577 Blaney Mar. 22, 1927 '2,169,754 Beyster Aug. 15, 1939 2,356,855 Knowlton et a-l. Aug. 29, 1944 

1. IN A HIDE AND LEATHER TREATING MACHINE, IN COMBINATION, (A) A FRAME; (B) KNIFE ROLLER MEANS AND SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS ROTATABLE ON SAID FRAME; (C) GUIDE MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME AND HAVING A GUIDE FACE PORTION, SAID KNIFE ROLLER MEANS, SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS, AND SAID GUIDE MEANS DEFINING A PATH FOR A PIECE OF LEATHER TO BE TREATED, SAID PATH EXTENDING OVER SAID FACE PORTION AND BETWEEN SAID KNIFE ROLLER MEANS AND SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS; (D) MEANS FOR MOVING SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS TRANSVERSELY OF SAID PATH BETWEEN AN INOPERATIVE POSITION REMOTE FROM SAID KNIFE ROLLER MEANS, AND AN OPERATIVE POSITION IN WHICH SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS IS ADJACENT SAID KNIFE ROLLER MEANS FOR WORKING OF A PIECE OF LEATHER SUPPORTED ON SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS BY SAID KNIFE ROLLER MEANS; AND (E) MOTION TRANSMITTING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID GUIDE MEANS AND TO SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY MOVING SAID GUIDE MEANS ON SAID FRAME WHEN SAID SUPPORTING ROLLER MEANS MOVES BETWEEN SAID POSITIONS THEREOF. 